Sakshi Bhavan, the dispassionate witness, giving feelings one’s full attention without allowing rumination that compounds the effect.
Not technically a strategy, but I think it’s on point.
PROMPT: Negative Feelings
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Category Archives: strategy
BOOKS: “The Activist” by Daniel Fried
The Activist: A Daoist Protest Manual by Daniel FriedMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Page — Prometheus Books/
Release date: March 3, 2026
Taoist philosophy has been applied to many a subject over the centuries, from war to business to governance to relationships, but this is the first time I’ve seen it applied to activism in a substantive way. The book caught my eye because I’ve long recognized the central truth behind Fried’s work, which is that the tactics and mindsets of protesters often does them no favors and may even ensure failure (if one presumes the objective to be to change behavior and attitudes on a given topic into line with the protesters’ stance.) The problem is that protesters are often angry and combative, characteristics which may keep the choir (preaching to itself) warm and feeling self-righteous, but which seldom brings in new converts from among the undecided [let alone from the opposing side.] And if you didn’t need converts to your side, you wouldn’t have to protest in the first place. Given this tendency, Taoism could be argued to be an ideal source of strategy. Taoism proposes going with the grain, not leading with a fight, and avoiding useless activity.
This book provides interesting food-for-thought about how protesters might have more impact by adopting fewer belligerent and self-serving tactics. Unfortunately, the book also has stretches of stream-of-consciousness writing that — while perhaps consistent with the Taoist love of spontaneity — can be a bit of a strain on the reader’s ability to follow. This mostly takes place in the latter chapters.
I found this book to be intriguing. I can’t say that I came away from it having answered the question of whether Taoist philosophy is reconcilable with activism on a practical level. Taoism asks one to let the natural unfold, while protest movements want to guide a society in a particular direction (notably one by definition at odds which that which has fallen into place organically.) It’s not for lack of discussion that I haven’t reached a conclusion, but rather that questions remain for me on the pragmatic level (rather than the level of theory.) That said, I found the book well worth reading, despite a few points of low readability.
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BOOK REVIEW: “War is a Racket” by Smedley D. Butler
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America’s Most Decorated Soldier by Smedley D. ButlerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
PDF available online
This impassioned essay is a call for a more restrained — some would call it isolationist — application of military force. Regardless of how one might feel about the isolationist stance, you’ll likely be moved by the essay’s central premise that we have too much war because it’s profitable — not profitable for those who fight and die in wars but for businessmen and politicians.
Butler, a US Marine Corps General, was a fascinating character — a two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who served in the Philippines, Tianjin (during the Boxer Rebellion,) at various places across Central America and the Caribbean, and in the First World War in Europe. He was also a whistleblower about a plot to unseat FDR. Butler writes in a conversational style that exudes a commanding presence.
I’d highly recommend this essay for its critical insights by one of the most impressive Marine Corp officers of all time.
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BOOK: “Mastering the Art of War” by Zhuge Liang & Liu Ji [Trans. & Ed. by Thomas Cleary
Mastering the Art of War: Commentaries on Sun Tzu’s Classic by Zhuge LiangMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Shambhala
This book combines the writings of two prominent Chinese strategists, Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji. Both men came after Sunzi, author of The Art of War, and Cleary describes these two works as commentaries on the work of Sunzi.
Zhuge Liang’s piece is called The Way of the General and it collects short essays from Records of the Loyal Lord of Warriors. Like many, I first became acquainted with Zhuge Liang from his novelized personage in the Chinese classic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he is called “Kongming” and is a force to be reckoned with in service to Liu Bei of the Shu Kingdom. Zhuge Liang’s ideas are conveyed as short topical discussions, not unlike Sunzi’s work.
Liu Ji’s manual, Lessons of War, is a bit different in that the explanation of the strategy is briefer than in the works of Sunzi or Zhuge Liang, but Liu Ji always includes an exemplary story from history. This makes Liu Ji’s work a little more narrative. It is interesting to see the varied approach to conveyance of the concepts under consideration.
Because the works of Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji are thin, the book has a fair amount of padding in the form of Translator’s Introductions, both an overall Introduction and one per included work. I was happy with how these were done. They do not drone on but rather give some background that will be useful to the average reader without getting lost in the weeds.
If you’re interested in strategy, be it applicable to war or otherwise, I’d highly recommend this book.
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BOOK: “Ma” ed. by Ken Rodgers & John Einarsen
Ma: The Japanese Secret to Contemplation and Calm: An Invitation to Awareness by Ken RodgersMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Tuttle
Release date: October 27, 2025
My introduction to the concept of ma came as a young martial arts student, where it was thought of as distancing, but not distancing in a static sense — rather in a way that incorporated timing as well [so, more of an interval in space-time.] I would later hear the term applied to domains such as joke telling in which perfection of pause could be as critical to a laugh as the words that comprised the joke. This book expanded my understanding to numerous realms I’d never much considered before such as architecture, photography, and gardening. (Incidentally, this book does contain a chapter addressing the martial arts aspect of ma, though not the comedic ramifications of the concept.)
I haven’t seen any other books that focus entirely on this concept. Ma is often mentioned in books on Japanese philosophy and aesthetics but rarely with such depth and singular attention. If there are other books that drill down into the concept in this way, I doubt they are as readable as this one (that is, I suspect such a book would be intensely philosophic and scholarly.) So, this book seems to have a solid niche.
There were a couple chapters that took my thinking on the subject to entirely new places. One was on ma in the domain of virtual reality. This raised interesting metaphysical considerations. Another was about the Heart Sutra and how the translations used have led to longstanding misunderstandings of that work.
If you are interested in art and or philosophy, I’d highly recommend this book.
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FIVE WISE LINES [January 2025]
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away.”
Philip k. dick
“The Wu and the Yue peoples hate each other. But in the same boat in a storm, they work together like left and right hands.”
SunZi in The ART of War
“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks – on your body or on your heart – are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.”
anthony bourdain
What allows great kings and generals to win, more frequently than ordinary men, is foreknowledge.
Sunzi in The ART of war
Foreknowledge cannot be attained by spirits or deduced or calculated.”
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
T. S. Eliot
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BOOKS: 孙子兵法 [Sunzi’s Art of War] by Sunzi
孙子兵法白话全译 by 史哲 文My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Available online – YellowBridge
In thirteen short chapters, Sunzi lays out a masterclass in strategy. One sees in Sunzi’s work the mark of a Taoist mindset, seeing it in the book’s emphasis on engaging in warfare only when necessary, doing things the easy way whenever possible, and never letting one’s ego write checks one isn’t able to cash in lives.
There is good reason that this is one of the world’s most well-known (if not the most well-known) treatise on warfare. Far from being complicated and technical, this guide is full of pithy teachings such as: “War is the way of deception.” “No country ever benefited from a long war.” “Defeating the enemy without fighting is supreme excellence.” “To be undefeated lies in oneself, to be victorious lies in the enemy.” “Know the enemy and yourself and victory is assured; know heaven and earth and victory is complete.” (And these teachings are even more concise in the original Chinese.)
In addition to basics like leadership, maneuver, and terrain, the book devotes chapters to both the use of fire and spies in warfare. (One’s level of understanding is central to strategic victory throughout Sunzi’s teachings.)
I’d highly recommend this book for anyone interested in strategy, martial arts, or other strategic pursuits. The book may be ancient, but it’s not obsolete by any means.
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BOOKS: “The Book of Five Rings” by Miyamoto Musashi [trans. by Thomas Cleary] [w/ Yagyu Munenori’s “Book of Family Traditions”]
The Book of Five Rings: A Classic Text on the Japanese Way of the Sword by Miyamoto MusashiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Shambhala Publications
This edition, i.e. The Shambhala Pocket Library edition, contains two guides to strategy, tactics, and philosophy of combat by famous early Edo Period swordsmen. The titular work is Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, but the volume also contains Yagyu Munenori’s The Book of Family Traditions. The naming of the book is meant to capitalize on the continuing popularity of Musashi, who remains well-known to this day not only because of his own works and legend, but because of an afterlife in pop culture that ranges from Eiji Yoshikawa’s novel to a recent Netflix animated series. That said, one shouldn’t conclude Yagyu Munenori was some sort of slouch. He was, in fact, a martial arts teacher to the Shogun’s son, and he founded a branch of his family’s martial arts school that continues to this day.
It is interesting to see these two guides back-to-back, being by authors whose lifespans largely overlapped, though – in other ways – their lives were quite different. While there is some conceptual overlap in these guides, the two definitely show two very different minds at work, Musashi the pragmatic eccentric and Yagyu the Zen philosopher of noble standing.
Miyamoto Musashi is probably the most famous swordsman in Japan’s history. Oddly enough, he’s not known for his experience in battle (he lived at the tail end of the Warring States period and was only in a couple battles), but – rather – for his 62 duels. The Book of Five Rings and other works he left behind are certainly important factors in his continuing fame. Musashi was a bit of a renaissance man: painter, poet, and sculptor in addition to a swordsman. He also left behind a school of swordsmanship, Niten Ichi-ryū.
The Book of Five Rings is divided into five parts: earth scroll, water scroll, fire scroll, wind scroll, and void scroll.
The earth scroll provides an overview of martial science and an introduction to Musashi’s school, which is noted for its simultaneous use of both the large and short sword. A section is devoted the rhythm of martial arts, a crucial topic. It also includes what might be considered Musashi’s 9-point budō kun (a list of warrior precepts.)It’s worth mentioning a couple of these:
#7 Become aware of what is not obvious.
#9 Do not do anything useless.
The Water scroll describes Musashi’s approach to swordsmanship. It covers a range of elements of a martial art including footwork, the focus of one’s eyes, physical posture, mental posture, techniques, and approaches to cutting and thrusting.
The Fire scroll deals with the strategic or interactive aspects of the battle.
The Wind scroll explores other martial arts. Musashi discusses martial arts that use an unusually long sword, an atypically short sword, that focus on powerful strikes, and those that focus on many rapid strikes. He contrasts other martial arts with his own on subjects such as their focus with the eyes and their footwork.
The void scroll deals with, well, emptiness. It’s actually a short wrap-up.
Yagyu’s guide is much more philosophical and mind-centric. It’s not that Musashi doesn’t deal with such topics, but he also devotes considerable space to more practical nuts and bolts of swordsmanship and strategy. It’s also true that Yagyu gets into technical considerations such as control of distancing (if in a bit more poetic way than Musashi.) One can get a feel for the nature of Yagyu’s Book of Family Traditions [on the Art of War] by seeing how it is organized into three parts: “The Killing Sword,” “The Life-Giving Sword,” and “No Sword.” The latter two indicating the author’s belief in the importance of not equating warrior and killer (nor winning with killing) as well as not fixating on the sword.
These two men had great insight into strategy and the tactics of swordsmanship, their guides are worth being read and reread. And the two authors do offer two intriguingly different approaches to a similar subject.
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Five Wise Lines [September 2024]
No country has ever benefited from a long war.
Sūnzi’s art of war (孙子兵法,) ch. 2
Humans are good intuitive grammarians but poor intuitive statisticians.
Daniel kahneman in Thinking, fast and slow
The highest form of leadership is to attack the enemy’s plans; the next highest is to attack the cohesion of their forces; the next is to attack their troops, and the worst is to besiege their cities.
Sūnzi’s Art of war (孙子兵法,) Ch.3
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow
War is the Way of deception.
Sūnzi’s Art of war (孙子兵法), Ch. 1
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Five Wise Lines (August 2024)
Empires arise from chaos, and empires collapse back into chaos. This we have known since time began.
The romance of the three kingdoms by luo guanzhong
Being poor is a mere trifle. It is being known to be poor that is the sting.
Jerome k. jerome; “On being hard up”
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him…
Sun tzu; The art of war
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
Jerome k. Jerome; “On being idle”
The wise man, like a child, can be filled with wonder at anything.
Tibetan proverb
Tiger Riding for Beginners 